My Jaw-Dropping Post - NOVA this week (March 11, 2017)

Observations from my weekly wanderings, usually in Northern Virginia (NOVA).

After the misleading subject line, you are likely to be disappointed with this post – but if you hang around the internet at all, you should be used to it by now.

I typically avoid complaining online, because it is a pet peeve of mine: posts, tweets, comments, quips etc., where the author rants about some topic they are passionate about in attempt to persuade the world with their infallible logic, poignant anecdotes, and pithy quotations (remember they are quotations not quotes).

And when they are done, it changes exactly NOTHING.

I could rant more about my aversion to that practice, but it would change nothing, so I’ll leave it at that. It really isn’t my point. Just saying, I don’t usually do this.

But I’m fed up with a little something, and I’m gonna vent. It won’t change anything, but I’ll feel better.

I am really sick of the phrase “jaw-dropping”. You know, those insidious ads on the border of just about any website, that are designed to tempt you to follow the link, and subject yourself to yet more advertising.

That’s all fair, I don’t blame em a bit. I don’t especially like it, but it’s free enterprise and free speech, which is WAAAY better than the alternative.

I just object to the 7^th grade-level language (feeling generous). Now, I get it. It’s the internet; it isn’t The Economist. But would it kill em to add a little variety to the superlatives?

You’d never know there are so many good adjectives out there: stunning, intriguing, captivating, striking, evanescent, or plain ole beautiful.

But no….See the jaw-dropping cast of 70s sitcom today; 80s star Jane Doe is even more jaw-droppingly beautiful than ever, Wow, child star from My Wacky life will drop your jaw, and the writing turns my stomach.

If you haven’t noticed this – you’re gonna now. You can thank me later. Actually, since most who read this blog have an affinity for a finely crafted sentence, I’ll apologize later.

But – I do feel better.